Door construction



Aug. l1, 1959 R. E, FORD 2,898,987

DOOR CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed. May 24, 1955 E I N VEN TOR55/7/ gaf/@ 7 f7@ rj if @PNE/s:

Aug. 11, 1959 RIE. FORD DOOR CONSTRUCTION v2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed l.im24, 1955 O D (X 2,898,987 DOOR CONSTRUCTION Ralph E. Ford, Harper Woods,Mich., assgnor yto William A. Temes This invention relates to doorconstructions and, in particular, to folding doors.

While the invention is not necessarily so limited, its originalapplication has been to doors for closets in private residences. Inrecent years it lhas come to be the fashion to provide rather wideopenings to closets, much wider than a conventional door. An ordinaryhinged door could not be used for such closets since it would take upfar too much space when swung open into the room containing the closet.As a consequence, builders turned to sliding doors or panels for thecloset and at the present moment these are in widespread use in newlybuilt homes.

Sliding doors, however, always occupy a considerable part of the openingthat they are intended to close, even when they are moved to a retractedposition. As a consequence, full advantage of the wide openings tomodern closets cannot be taken since a good part of the opening isalways closed by a sliding'door.

It is the object of this invention to provide folding doors that areespecially adapted to close wide openings in closets but which can beopened up to expose the complete closet opening. Of course, theinvention can be used in other applications but it is of peculiar valuein connection with closets since it performs the functions statedwithout projecting a significant amount into the room, even when fullyopened.

Though my door construction could be made of other materials, I preferfor reasons of economy to make it of sheet metal. lts construction issuch that it is very light in weight yet it is strong and pleasing inappearance. It is relatively simple and economical to manufacture and toinstall.

Speaking generally, my invention contemplates the use of a pair offolding door units which arehinged on opposite sides of the closetopening. Each door unit consists of a pair of panels which are hingedtogether.` When the door units are closed the panels. all lie in thesame plane; but when the doors are open the panels in each unit arehinged together so that they are substantially parallel with each otherand extend transversely to the wall or closet opening. The door unitsare mounted by means of my invention in such a way that theymove'freelyV and `do not bind no matter how they are grasped, pushed, orpulled toward a closed or opened position.

My invention is illustrated in preferred forms in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of my improved door construction andshows one door unit in closed position and the other in fully openposition;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation, partly broken away, and with the uppertrack omitted, of the left-hand door unit of Fig. 1, it being noted thatthe leftand right-hand door units are identical;

Fig. 3 is a top elevation `of the door construction shown in Fig. 2 andin dotted lines shows the doors swung to a fully opened position;

Fig. 4 is a cross section taken along the lines 4-4 of Fig. 2 with thetop track added; and

ited States Patent O ICC Fig. 5 is a section taken along the line 5 5 ofFig. 2.

Referring first to the preferred embodiment of the invention as shown inFigs. 1-5, Fig. l shows diagrammatically a wall 1 of a room having alarge closet 3 with an access opening 5 in the wall 1. The opening 5 isdefined by top and bottom surfaces 7 and 9, respectively, and by leftandright-hand vertical surfaces 11, al1 of these being constructed in anydesired way by the builder of the residence containing the closet 3. Theopening 5 is closed by a door construction which includes leftandright-hand door units 15 and 17, respectively, which are identical inconstruction, except for being on opposite hands, so that a detaileddescription of only one of these units will suice. The units are of suchkwidth that they meet when fully closed, preferably in the center of theopening 5, though there may be a slight clearance such as 1A; inch or sobetween them. I contemplate especially that these door units extend fromthe floor to the ceiling of the room containing the closet so that thecloset 3 is in effect provided with one side that can be entirely openfrom end to end and top to bottom.

Each of the door units 15 and 17 contain two panels, one of which is anouter panel 21 which is hinged along an axis 23 to the top and bottomsurfaces 7 and 9 of the door opening. Hinged along the inside edge ofthe outer panel 21 is an inner panel 25. The panels 21 and 25 arepreferably of the same width and, except for hardware to be hereinafterdescribed, are identical with each other. While they can be made ofplastic, plywood, or other materials, they preferably comprise a sheet27 of mild steel that has been bent in a brake press along the verticaledges to form the inwardly turned J-corners 29 which present avertically extending back surface 31. To stiien the sheet metal 27 thereare provided adjacent the top and the bottom of each panel a transversehat section 33 having the side flanges 35 which are spot welded to thesheet metal 27, the ends of the hat section being cut out as shown at 37to provide tabs 39 that fit on top of surfaces 31 so that they can bescrewed, riveted, or spot welded, as shown, to the surfaces 31. The hatsections 33 in conjunction with the J-shaped corners 29 stiffen thepanels 21 and 25 so that they do not oilcan or otherwise distort in anundesirable or unpleasing manner. It will be seenthat the hat sections33 at the top and the bottom are interchangeable, thus reducing thevariety of Darts needed to make up the entire door construction.

The panels 21 and 25 are hinged to each other by several hinge pieces 41of a conventional type that can be purchased on the open market. Threesuch hinges located at the top, bottom, and central points on the panelsare preferably used and they may be spot welded or otherwise secured tothe surfaces 31 on adjacent corners 29 of the panels 21 and 25, thusbeing located at the rear of the panels whereby the front surfaces 43thereof present a flush and pleasing appearance.

The panel 21 ishinged on axis 23 by means of pins 45 which pivot insockets 47 and 49, respectively, litted in channels at the top andthebottom of the closet door opening 5. Each pin 45 is secured by a screwor rivet 51 or the like to the foot 53 of an L-shaped bracket 55. Eachbracket 55 has a vertical slot 57 formed in its major leg portion 59 andis embossed outwardly to provide a longitudinal recess 61. Each of thehat sections 33 has three holes 62 formed therein adjacent one end andthese are preferably symmetrical with respect to the center line ormidplane of the hat section, the top two holes being used for thebracket 55 at the top of the panel and the bottom two holes being usedfor the bracket 55 at the bottom of the panel. Secured in the holes inthe hat sections are clinch nuts 63 of a type that is available on theopen market which have sections that t into the recess 61, the clinchnuts being non-rotatable but having a threaded opening to receive screws65 in slots 57 that will clamp the brackets 55 tightly against the topof the hat section to hold the pivot pins 45 in position. The slots 57permit vertical adjustment of the vbrackets and thus of the pivot pinsto .accommodate substantial dimensional variations arnongdiferentopenings 5. it might be noted that the Vbrackets 55 enable the pivotpins 45 to be placed fairly close to the top and bottom surfaces of thedoor panel so that, as seen in Figs. 4 and 5, trim molding 67 secured tothe surface 7 can 'be used to cover most, if not all, of the spacebetween the top of the panel and the surface 7.

The sockets 47 and 49 for the pivot pins 45 are preferably provided bybushings 71 that are pressed in drilled out openings 73 in the top andbottom tracks 75 and 77 which are secured by screws 79 to the top andbottom surfaces 7 and 9. rThe tracks 75 and 77 are preferably identicaland formed of extruded aluminum to the shape seen in Figs. 4 and 5wherein the channel portions 81 constitute tracks dening a plane lyingin the plane of the panels 21 and 2S when the door units are fullyclosed as shown at the left in Fig. 1. In-other words, the-channels SIrun parallel to the plane of the wall 1 and do not run off at an angleinto the closet 3. The channels 81 provide tracks for pins S3 that arelocated at the inside edges of the inside panels 25 along a movablevertical axis 85. The pins 81 are preferably formed by mounting a pieceof molded nylon tubing on studs 87 that are secured by screws, pins, orthe like `to the feet 53 of brackets 55. lt may be noted here that it isnot absolutely necessary to have both the upper and the lower tracks 81,and that one, preferably the top, will suffice to guide movement of thefolding door panels 21 and 25.

It is of the utmost importance that in the arrangement so far describedthe axis 23 be located closer to the axis 89 of hinges 41 than is theaxis 85. This is necessary in order to prevent jamming of the pins 83 inthe tracks 81 when the door is closed by a push (as on handles 91) onthe outer panel 21 that is directed inwardly toward the center of theopening 5. If the distances are the same or if the distance betweenhinges 41 and axis 85 is less than it is on the outer panel 21, thedoors will either not fully collapse or they will jam in the tracks whenclosed by pushing on the outer panel rather than by pulling on the innerpanel. By making these distances unequal in the manner just indicated,the sliding panel 25 will always make an angle 93 with the track 81 thatis greater than 90 degrees and will thus slide freely and withoutbinding. At present, with the panels l inch thick and each 11% incheswide and a distance between the pin axis 23 and hinge axis 89 of 10inches, I prefer to space the hinges 41 from the pins 83 (axis 85) by adistance of inches.

It will now be seen that the invention provides a simple doorconstruction that may be economically manufactured and easily installedand which will operate smoothly. Furthermore, its construction is ofsuch a nature as to occupy a minimum of space and make available theentire opening of the closet. In addition, by making the door so that itextends from the floor to the ceiling it is possible to eliminate someexpensive wall construction in building of the home, namely the overhangwall extending from the ceiling to the top of the door in conventionalinstallations.

Modifications may be made in the specific structure illustrated withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a door construction for a doorway having upper and lowerhorizontal surfaces and vertical side surfaces, a straight channelshaped -track on one of said horizontal surfaces extending parallel tothe plane of the doorway, a pivot socket mounted in said track adjacentone of said vertical surfaces, another lpivot socket mounted on theother of said horizontal surfaces and acting with said first mentionedsocket to define a vertical pivot axis in alignment with said track, apair of door panels hinged together along a vertical axis so that theycan be coplanar and parallel to said track in one position, one of saidpanels having pivot pins located in the midplane thereof and projectinginto said sockets to pivotally mount said `panels thereon, the other ofsaid panels having a pin located in the midplane thereof and projectinginto said track and movable along said track, said last mentioned pinbeing located farther from the hinge between said panels than said rstmentioned pins whereby the exterior angle between the outside face ofsaid other panel and said track is always greater than during pivotalmovement of the one panel.

2. In a folding door for a doorway having a frame lwith a vertical side,first and second panels having hinge means hinging them together so thatthey can be coplanar in onel position and substantially parallel in afolded position, fixed pivot means for attachment in the doorway to saidframe adjacent said vertical side and defining a vertical pivot axis,pivot means on said rst panel cooperative with said first mentionedpivot means Ito pivotally connect said panels in said doorway so thatthey can be pivoted to fully open or fully closed positions, a straighthorizontal track for attachment in said doorway to said frame andproviding a runway parallel to the plane of the doorway and in alignmentwith said vertical pivot axis, guide means projecting from said secondpanel and riding in said track and movable along said runway as saidpanels are hinged together and apart, said guide means on said secondpanel being spaced farther from said hinge means between said panelsthan is the pivot means on said iirst panel.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,273,838 Fairhurst July 30, 1918 1,571,194 Frantz Feb. 2, 19261,700,184 Sipes Jan. 29, 1929 1,934,089 Porter Nov. 7, 1933 2,072,514Daniell Mar. 2, 1937 2,351,656 Anten June 20, 1944 2,572,153 Horn Oct.23, 1951 2,596,792 Robinson May 13, 1952 2,597,786 Fontaine May 20, 19522,684,714 Corey July 27, 1954

